ACEN’s profit declines 43% after accounting adjustments

By Alena Mae S. Flores – March 12, 2024, 8:10 pm
from manilastandard.net

ACEN Corp., the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group, on Tuesday reported a net income of P7.4 billion in 2023, down 43 percent from 2022, after including an P8.6-billion accounting adjustment from various events.

ACEN said in a statement that if the impact of all non-cash items is taken out, profitability increased 150 percent year-on-year, driven by a nearly three-fold increase in core operating earnings.

Revenues from the consolidated Philippine and Australian businesses rose 4 percent to P36.5 billion in 2023.

“ACEN remains committed to leading the energy transition with continued investments in renewables capacity expansion. We look forward to 2024 with full commercial operations of newly commissioned plants, a continually growing pipeline, and in turn, continued progress toward our aspiration to achieve 20 gigawatts in attributable renewables capacity by 2030,” ACEN president and chief executive Eric Francia said.

Meanwhile, attributable earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), which includes ACEN’s share of EBITDA from non-consolidated operating projects, grew 31 percent to P18.8 billion.

ACEN’s key financial metrics significantly improved year over year on the back of new operating capacity, stronger wind and solar generation, the resolution of plant curtailments, and a strong net merchant selling position at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

“Through our increased focus on execution, diverse sources of funding, and array of strategic partnerships, we have delivered strong core operating performance with the ramp-up of new capacity. Our balance sheet also remains robust and ACEN continues to be well positioned to achieve our long-term strategic goals,” ACEN chief finance officer and chief strategy officer Jonathan Back said.

Income from operations, which represents the company’s share of ongoing profits from both its consolidated and nonconsolidated operations globally, rose 81 percent to P8.1 billion.

Core operating earnings, which in turn deducts overhead and development expenses and net financing costs, tripled to P4.9 billion with the continued ramp-up of new renewables capacity and generation output.

ACEN also booked P4.5 billion in gains in 2023, inclusive of P3.4 billion in remeasurements, from the Salak & Darajat partial sale in the third quarter.

This was offset by a P2-billion impairment of the India platform due to the impact of cost overruns and project delays.

ACEN’s consolidated net income after tax in the fourth quarter reached P830 million, while income from operations grew 38 percent to P1.9 billion from a year-ago, driven by robust growth in the Philippines, Australia and India.

The fourth quarter saw a ramp-up in overhead and development expenses as ACEN continued to invest in resources to support its longer-term growth.